Local firm vouches for traditional SMS service 

It appears there is still some fight left among those who still believe in the traditional short message service (SMS).

Service Cops, a local Ugandan company, has come up with a short message service (SMS) for people wishing to promote their products, arguing that the explosion of popular social media platforms such as WhatsApp does not necessarily mean the death of the traditional SMS.

In a statement, Service Cops says there are many people who do not own smartphones, and, therefore, present a large consumer market. The company points to the Uganda Communication Commission market report for the fourth quarter of 2022, which notes that there were 38.1 million connected devices, up from 37.2 million in Q3 2022.

Of these, 25.8 million or 68 per cent of all connected devices were either feature phones (23.8 million) or basic phones (2 million). SMS remained the foundational communication channel especially, for digital financial services according to the Q2 2022 report.

Service Cops continued to note that SMS remained the foundational communication channel especially for digital financial services, according to the Q2 2022 report. Of the 11.8 billion SMSs sent in this quarter, 9.01 billion were application-to-person (A2P) messages and 2.76 billion messages were person-to-person (P2P) messages.

“SMS boasts an impressive 98% open rate, far exceeding that of Facebook Ads, WhatsApp, voice, and radio advertising. This means your message is almost guaranteed to be seen by your target audience, ensuring maximum reach and impact,” the statement noted.

There is also a cost element to think about, Service Cops reminds us.

“Unlike Facebook Ads and other digital marketing platforms, SMS services offer a cost-effective way to reach your target audience. You can send bulk messages at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising channels, maximizing your return on investment,” Service Cops said.